Fantasma Solitário

Almost 55 years before Bill Murray and Co. cleaned up New York there was a different trio of 'fearless' spook-fighters. They were Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Though none of their equipment is high-tech (they carry nets and, bizarrely, axes) they make up for it with phony bravery.

A quartet of ghosts in a spooky old mansion phone them up and get them over to scare them and play tricks. So, you can pretty much guess that the rest of the cartoon will be made up of related hijinks. Though this time, it's slightly more imaginative than usual. Nice animation and spooky atmosphere too.

Long before Bill Murray and company wiped out all the ghosts in New York City, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were doing the job (but not in NYC, and without the proton packs and other gadgets, of course). In this classic 1937 short, the trio are ghost hunters who go into a haunted house, where they end up having some wacky adventures (Goofy gets stuck in a dresser, etc.). In my opinion, this is definitely one of the best of all the Disney shorts (and there are many to choose from). And the ending of this one is just PERFECT.

This is a silly little cartoon short featuring Mickey, Donald and Goofy as a ghost hunting team, who got called up by four bored ghosts in a haunted house. They have scared everyone away and decide to have some fun freaking out Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

It's a unique short that does not follow the more conventional plot line. You have some frightful fun mixed in with some classic Disney magic - all resulting in a pretty entertaining story. It's fun for adults and kids, and might even scare away some little ones during a fright night. Also, the animation is pretty good in this one and the characters are colorful Great for laughs.

Grade B

Lonesome Ghosts (1937)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Highly entertaining short from Walt Disney has four ghosts haunting a house when they see a newspaper ad claiming a certain group can catch any ghost. In order to have some fun, the ghosts call the number and pretty soon Mickey, Donald Duck and Goofy show up but get more than what they thought they would. LONESOME GHOSTS is a darn good short from the boys at Disney, which offers up three of their most loved characters as well as the typical wonderful animation that you come to expect from the studio. I thought the animation was certainly the highlight of the film and especially the beautiful detail in every aspect of the picture. The highlight of the film would have be the sequence where Goofy is looking in a mirror and at first doesn't realize he's seeing a ghost.

This is a well-known Mickey Mouse/Halloween short, and it was hard to believe that it premiered on Christmas Eve of 1937. I remember clips of this short on the TV special "Disney's Halloween Treat," but I was usually too scared to watch them or the whole cartoon. But as an animation-loving adult, I had watched the whole short on my Mickey Mouse DVD box-set and it was OK; I wasn't scared anymore.

You all probably know what the short's about: four bored green phantoms want to have some fun. So, after seeing their ad in the paper, the ghoulies lured Ghostbusters Mickey, Donald, and Goofy over to their haunted home, the old McShiver Mansion, with a fake phone call. As I've said before, I don't have a favorite scene. I just love the ending quote Donald gives out: "So you can't take it? You big sissies!"

So anyway, it's a wonderful cartoon for Halloween and my favorite Mickey/Donald/Goofy cartoon.